Constant Contact today announced the general availability of SaveLocal, its online marketing tool that helps small businesses run profitable, effective local deals.

Previously only available to Constant Contact customers, SaveLocal is now available to all U.S. businesses. SaveLocal gives merchants complete control and allows them to run deals that make sense financially, incentivize social sharing to spread word of mouth, attract new customers, and drive repeat business.

"In speaking with local business owners when developing SaveLocal, we heard a few common requests: They wanted a tool that helped them acquire new customers through word-of-mouth, the ability to control the type and amount of the deal, and they wanted to actually make a profit," said Dave Gilbertson, vice president and general manger of SaveLocal, in a statement. "Those all seemed like pretty reasonable things to ask from a business owner trying to make a living, but unfortunately, the traditional deals model fell short on every one of these goals. SaveLocal flips that model on its head and gives the merchant complete control of the deal. They control the discount amount, the terms of the deal, timing, and how many coupons to sell. And we've already seen some truly amazing results. We couldn't be more excited about making this product widely available."

Janet Brown of Cape Fear Aesthetics, a spa in Fayetteville, N.C., ran a SaveLocal deal that netted more that $14,000 in revenue in just 10 days. "We ran the same exact deal with a different provider, but the SaveLocal deal was much more profitable because we didn't have to give the standard 50 percent back to the vendor," Brown said. With SaveLocal, deals are completely free to send and merchants pay just $1, $2, or $3 when someone buys the deal, depending on the value of the deal. Cape Fear's first deal went so well and cost so little that the spa ran another deal, and then a third.Overall, the offers brought in more than $42,000 in revenue.

Grant Galuppi, owner of Galuppi's, a restaurant in Pompano Beach, Fla., had the same issue. "The deals vendor required that we offer a 50 percent discount and give them half of whatever we made," he said. "We wanted to find an alternative that gave us more control over the deal. Constant Contact had already been a huge part of our online marketing, so when I heard about SaveLocal, it was a no-brainer." Galuppi also used SaveLocal's sharing feature to incentivize his customers to buy and share the deal, offering an additional $5 coupon to anyone who purchased the deal and then emailed it, tweeted about it, or posted it on Facebook. As a result, Galuppi's sold more than 200 coupons and brought in more than $3,000 in revenue, but more importantly, expanded its new customer base by 36 percent.

"All of our products are made in-house. They are hand-made and hand-painted. We couldn't afford to be put in a position where we had to offer a steep discount," said Grant Cloud, owner of Cloud's Porcelain, a pottery store in Folsom, Calif. "The deal we ran with SaveLocal was $75 for a $100 gift certificate. It was super-affordable and we were in control of the terms. They didn't force us to offer a 50 percent discount, and we didn't have to give them a big share of revenue. The deal brought in over 40 percent new customers and went above and beyond our expectations."

"Success stories like these are just a few of the great examples we have of what happens if we give merchants the tools and total control to create profitable deals campaigns that drive word of mouth. We think that the best way to find your next great customer is through your existing customer base rather than through a big list of consumers who don't know much about you. That is SaveLocal's secret sauce," Gilbertson said. "This industry can have an inspiring and bright future, but in order to succeed, the model needed to change. It's clear that our model is resonating. In just the three months since SaveLocal's launch, our deal volume has put us in the top 10 among current providers."